Page "Cavity magnetron" Paragraph 17

Because France had just fallen to the Nazis and Britain had no money to develop the magnetron on a massive scale, Churchill agreed that Sir Henry Tizard should offer the magnetron to the Americans in exchange for their financial and industrial help ( the Tizard Mission ).

An early 6 kW version, built in England by the General Electric Company Research Laboratories, Wembley, London ( not to be confused with the similarly named American company General Electric ), was given to the US government in September 1940.

At the time the most powerful equivalent microwave producer available in the US ( a klystron ) had a power of only ten watts.

The cavity magnetron was widely used during World War II in microwave radar equipment and is often credited with giving Allied radar a considerable performance advantage over German and Japanese radars, thus directly influencing the outcome of the war.

It was later described by America as " the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores ".